<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>i'll take my turn to burn by bitxh</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29855289">i'll take my turn to burn</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitxh/pseuds/bitxh'>bitxh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Magnus Archives (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Eating Disorders, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Kinda, M/M, again it's brief but it's still there, is probably more accurate, kinda a character study but it felt kinda ooc when i was proofing it, only briefly mentioned but it's still there</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:02:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,688</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29855289</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitxh/pseuds/bitxh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"They both knew that this wouldn’t last forever; hell it wouldn’t even last long."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gerard Keay/Michael Shelley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i'll take my turn to burn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This will probably be one of my last tma fics. I'm just not super into it anymore but I was clearing out my wips folder and I have a couple that are done and just need to be edited so I figured I'd post them. The title is stolen from a mother mother song and I wrote this months ago so take that information as you want. Also this is inspired by a few different fics I've read, but I can't remember what they were called. Also side note but ao3 refuses to ever space my fics properly, only like one line is messed up in this but it still makes me mad.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was unusual to see other people in Gertrude’s office; more so to see a man drenched in what smelled like sewer water. Still there had been weirder things in his life so ignoring the desire to simply turn around and pretend he hadn’t noticed him and just come back later, Michael stepped further into the office.</p><p>The man seemed content to not acknowledge Michael other than a slight nod of his head which Michael returned a beat too late for it to not look forced. That however caused the other to huff out an exhausted laugh before he turned back to look at the empty room and shout, “Gertrude there’s a stressed out looking kid here holding a file I assume is for you.”</p><p>Michael scowled and was about to argue that he was pretty sure they were about the same age but before he could get the first word out, Gertrude called out, “Michael?”</p><p>Remembering that it probably wasn’t a good idea to start a petty argument with a stranger Michael turned his attention back to why he was here in the first place, well not here here, but in Ms. Robinson’s office in the first place, “I uh I have the follow up research you asked for... for the Ortez statement?”</p><p>Walking out of a storage closet connected to her office she didn’t even spare him a look before saying, “You can leave that with Gerard here.”, and slamming a box of old statements on her desk.</p><p>Confused but not one to ask questions that could potentially upset others Michael handed the man, who he at least knew now was named Gerard, the file.<br/>
Gertrude barely spared him a glance before starting to sort through the box, “That will be all, thank you Michael.” </p><p>“R-right uhh well nice to meet your Gerard.”</p><p>Gerard looked up from the file seemingly confused why he was being addressed, but his expression quickly shifted to one of amusement when he saw the painfully awkward look on Michael’s face and the wringing of his hands. The smile was evident more in his voice however than on his face when he said, “Nice to meet you too Michael.”</p><p>-----</p><p>The next time the two men met Gerard was not drenched in water but did have blood stuck in his hair.<br/>
Michael had been doing follow up on some old statements for Gertrude and that usually meant talking to people that looked at him like they wanted him dead. This time however he had gone to a small bookstore shoved in between two retail stores that looked more like a front than anything else.  </p><p>When he walked in there was no one behind the counter, which in and of itself wasn’t terribly odd. However it seemed like no one had been in this store for awhile, a thin layer of dust coated most of the shelves. Still the hours on the door had said they were open and it was better to feel awkward waiting for a few minutes than to go back to The Institute with nothing and have to face Gertrude. </p><p>After a few minutes of waiting he started to hear what sounded like yelling from the back of the store; fighting his instincts he walked behind the counter and slowly pushed the door leading to the back room open. </p><p>It was hard to see what exactly was going on but there was a person and another… shape that seemed to be taking turns throwing the other at the nearest surface; the only source of light in the room was a bulb hanging from the ceiling that was spinning rapidly, barely illuminating anything with its dim glow. </p><p>Michael had no idea how long he stood there for but when the bulb finally stopped its nonsensical path through the air and the only sound left in the room was the sound of someone trying to catch their breath there was Gerard straddling what now looked frighteningly human. </p><p>Looking up with his hands still wrapped around the knife still lodged in the other ‘person’s’ chest the goth looked confused, “Michael?”</p><p>Michael, who hadn’t moved from where he was standing when he opened the door took a step back, “Gerard?”</p><p>Neither man moved until the corpse on the floor started making a slight hissing noise and Gerard jumped off of it yanking his knife out with the momentum of his movement. Not looking back he pushed past Michael and started rummaging under the counter. Seemingly happy with whatever he had found and shoved in his coat, he turned around, grabbed Michael’s wrist, and started to pull him towards the exit. </p><p>Snapping out of the shock induced stupor he’d been in Michael planted his feet and tried to snatch his wrist back. Gerard ignored this and continued to yank on Michael’s arm until he started to trip forward and was forced to either walk or fall face first on the ground. </p><p>After two more unsuccessful attempts of getting his wrist out of the goth’s grip and one attempt at trying to make Gerard to stop walking Michael tried to ask what exactly was going on and was unsurprisingly met with silence. </p><p>Gerard didn’t let go of his wrist until they were in what Michael figured was his flat. It was pretty much empty save for a sofa and a television in the main room and a table that was in the kitchen even though there were no chairs. Gerard pushed down on his shoulders forcing Michael onto the couch, “sit here and I’ll explain in a minute.”, and then he walked away while shrugging off his jacket.</p><p>It was then that Michael really started to panic. He had just witnessed a murder, and now he was in the flat of a murderer, with a murderer. He was either going to get murdered or sent to prison for not phoning the police; and neither of those seemed like great options. Just as he’d made his mind up to run and try to get somewhere he could phone the police Gerard walked back in the room, still half covered in blood. </p><p>He must have noticed how panicked Michael was and taken pity on him because he stopped just inside the room and instead leant against the wall. Neither said anything for a minute as Gerard studied Michael with a thoughtful look on his face, and Michael tried to figure out if he could outrun Gerard, </p><p>“So,” Gerard began, “how much did Gertrude tell you?”</p><p>Gertrude? What the hell did Gertrude have to do with this? Now Michael was confused and a bit closer to full blown panic; was he going to hurt Gertrude too?</p><p>“I- you- Ger- huh?”, Michael could feel his face heating up, even about to get murdered he was still managing to make a fool out of himself.</p><p>Gerard seemed more confused than Michael however. “Are you trying to say you don’t know anything?”</p><p>“Anything about what?”, Michael could feel his pulse picking up and he desperately glanced at the door. </p><p>Gerard sighed and rubbed his hands down his face before looking back at Michael, “What do you think is going on right now?”</p><p>“Y-you’re going t-to murder me?”</p><p>“Why the hell would I murder you?”</p><p>“I-I just saw you kill th-that guy a-and n-now y-you’re going to k-kill me.”</p><p>Gerry sighed but didn’t move other than that, “I’m not going to murder you.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Why? You find out I’m not going to kill you and ask- you know what nevermind. No I’m not going to murder you because I don’t have a reason to.”</p><p>“B-but wh-what about-”</p><p>“Do you want me to murder you?”</p><p>“N-no!”</p><p>“Well it sure seems like you do.”</p><p>“I don’t!”</p><p>Gerard sighed and ran a hand over his face, “Look kid you’re clearly panicking. I don’t know why Gertrude hired you because it seems like you don’t know shit about shit, but you’re going to have to learn now.”</p><p>Inhaling shakily and still refusing to make eye contact Michael muttered, “not a kid.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>And well either Gerard was lying and he was going to kill him so a little back talk wouldn’t really matter, or he actually wasn’t in danger, so... “I-I’m not a kid. We’re the same age.”</p><p>Gerry laughed at that, “What makes you think that?”</p><p>“I’m twenty four, you can’t be much older than that. You don’t look like you are at least.”</p><p>“Hmm.”, Gerry paused as he put his hair into a bun at the top of his head, blood and all, “Well I guess you’ll just have to wonder.”</p><p>That got Michael to look up, he was about to start to go on a nervous and a little annoyed ramble before he saw the shit-eating grin on Gerard’s face, and despite himself he smiled back.  </p><p>-----</p><p>At some point it had become routine; if the other man was there when Michael was leaving for the night instead of getting on the tube to go back to his flat they’d silently walk to Gerry’s car and leave together. Where they went always changed; sometimes they’d go back to the goth’s flat and fall into bed, sometimes that would turn into something else, but most of the time they’d just sleep. Every once and awhile they’d go to Michael’s and Gerry would act like he owned the place much to Michael’s amusement. </p><p>Most nights however Gerry would drive until he didn’t feel like driving anymore. Then they’d buy a bottle of something cheap and sit; sometimes in silence sometimes not. If they got food Gerry wouldn’t make a fuss when Michael didn’t even pretend to touch his, and Michael never commented when Gerry drank most of whatever was in the bottle that night, it wasn’t like he needed much of it anyways. </p><p>They both knew that this wouldn’t last forever; hell it wouldn’t even last long. But it was nice to fall into this routine they’d made for themselves. It was just the two of them orbiting each other until one of them crashed and burned the both of them up; everyone else was background noise.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I forgot what I wanted to say here but comments and kudos are always appreciated and all that stuff people usually say. Also this was originally going to be multiple chapters but I kinda lost track of what I wanted to do and just scrapped some of it but this is what was salvageable which is why the dialouge might seem a little strange.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>